The inside story of the development of the realXtend virtual reality platform.

keskiviikko 27. elokuuta 2008

realXtend weekly meeting logs August 27 2008

Here's the chat log from our latest weekly meeting. Once again, "You" refers to "me", which in this case is Antti Ilomäki.

[9:34] Jani Pirkola: Okay, lets start the meeting[9:34] Jani Pirkola: Antti, I hope you could save the log[9:35] Jani Pirkola: And collect possible action points[9:35] Jani Pirkola: Antti, go ahead[9:35] Jani Pirkola: your status report[9:35] You: well, mikko probably knows the latest news, but all in all, things are progressing as usual[9:36] You: working on nhibernate and grid mode[9:36] You: web interface for user management works partially, needs a bit additional design[9:36] You: and some features[9:36] You: mikko, how's the situation with cross-sim IM?[9:36] Mikko Pallari: yeah. matti made some grid fixes, but I think it is not still working properly enough[9:37] You: we'll have to look into the grid mode in more detail, but Matti and maybe Mikko as well should have time left in this sprint to focus on those important features[9:38] Jani Pirkola: great[9:39] Jani Pirkola: so no problems, basically, am I right?[9:39] You: Then the material stuff with Adam is in pretty good shape, he's still missing LudoCraft description, but it shouldn't be a problem[9:39] Jani Pirkola: Is someone taking care of that?[9:39] You: no problems if you don't count the number of bug fixes and feature requests[9:40] You: then again I hope Matti gets the VoIP done quickly, we need to start planning reX Center and content servers etc. before next sprint[9:40] You: Anna is working on it AFAIK[9:40] Jani Pirkola: great[9:41] Jani Pirkola: did you find what is wrong with woip?[9:42] You: Not yet really, but Matti seems to be narrowing it down little by little[9:42] Jani Pirkola: Antti, Anna is asking you to come to skype, could you manage that a the same time[9:42] You: It could have something to do with how the voice libraries are being used or the TCP traffic, Matti is looking into it[9:43] You: probably, this is my actually working computer at home[9:43] Jani Pirkola: sounds good, hopefully at the end at least[9:43] Jani Pirkola: Hi Anna[9:43] Anna Asplund: Hi[9:52] Jani Pirkola: Okay, Anna, could you continue to report Ludocraft status?[9:52] Anna Asplund: Okay[9:53] Anna Asplund: We are doing the fixes after viewer merge[9:53] Anna Asplund: Heikki T is redoing some work on the light maps[9:53] Anna Asplund: and Lasse fixes[9:54] Jani Pirkola: (btw after you are ready with the status, say that out loud so we dont wait you to say something more)[9:54] Anna Asplund: Tuomo does postprocessing effects and random avatar function[9:54] Anna Asplund: Then we have feature that enables avatar change from human to fish[9:55] Anna Asplund: which is used for our new content purposes[9:55] You: how about robot to fish?[9:55] Anna Asplund: That is possible also[9:55] You: maybe robot to submarine[9:55] Anna Asplund: Our content team is doing underwater world[9:56] Anna Asplund: The content is about 10 percent of the concept we have so far[9:56] Anna Asplund: I mean 10 per cent ready ;)[9:56] Matti Kuonanoja is Online[9:56] Anna Asplund: We have one fish that is animated somehow but needs fixing[9:56] Jani Pirkola: do you plan to have it 100% at the time we do the press release?[9:56] Anna Asplund: No way[9:57] Anna Asplund: I mean we have 1 level demo for the press release this september[9:57] Jani Pirkola: Do you plan to have it 100% by the time we have the press event?[9:57] Anna Asplund: What press event, the one in November?[9:57] Jani Pirkola: is the level 1 demo public so people can come in?[9:58] Anna Asplund: I think we will have some percentage between 50-100%[9:58] Jani Pirkola: Yes, we have planned only one press event, around the end of november[9:58] Anna Asplund: Yes, it is public but limited area[9:58] Jani Pirkola: that is fine then[9:58] Matti Kuonanoja is Offline[9:58] Anna Asplund: Good[9:58] Jani Pirkola: When do you estimate we will have 100%?[9:58] Anna Asplund: Hopefully by the end of year[9:59] Anna Asplund: But our content can be used even if the planned concept is not 100%[9:59] Jani Pirkola: Did Tuomo get that server from Tommi? Have you tried to use it?[9:59] You: is it possible to get teaser screenshots from your test environment to the LA expo?[9:59] Anna Asplund: The Vision is always greater than what is realized actually[9:59] Anna Asplund: I can ask Tomi, it is not for sure yet[10:00] Jani Pirkola: Enough of the vision is good enough ;)[10:00] Anna Asplund: Which server do you mean?[10:00] Jani Pirkola: One of our four servers in US[10:00] Jani Pirkola: Where the seaworld will be located[10:00] Anna Asplund: I asked Tuomo earlier, but I will check that again, that is important[10:01] Jani Pirkola: okay, let me know how it goes[10:02] Anna Asplund: Okay, Tuomo has tried it this week, but has not done anything yet[10:02] Jani Pirkola: is it already accessible?[10:02] Anna Asplund: He got in, that's about it[10:02] Jani Pirkola: Would be nice to pop in every once in a while[10:02] Jani Pirkola: okay[10:02] Jani Pirkola: anything else?[10:03] Anna Asplund: We have talked about the targets and measurements[10:03] Jani Pirkola: yes, it is on our agenda[10:03] Jani Pirkola: we can talk about it when we come to that[10:03] Anna Asplund: Yes, I see[10:03] Jani Pirkola: My status report:[10:04] Jani Pirkola: I have developed idea that we give out free servers for individuals and organizations[10:04] Jani Pirkola: That is to promote 3D Internet and realXtend[10:05] Jani Pirkola: I am trying to negotiate with different service providers to find a good and not so expensive model of cooperation[10:05] Jani Pirkola: Then a question to you Antti; could you make the press release for the September and send it to me Anna and Ville[10:06] Jani Pirkola: The one about the funders[10:06] You: probably, I'll need to know what's supposed to be in it, though[10:07] Anna Asplund: Yes, will we also tell all our contributors etc[10:07] Jani Pirkola: Then I want you to think about if we should have a realXtend conference, something like the opensim/realxtend meeting we had at the end of January[10:07] Jani Pirkola: Antti, write what you would like to include in the press release and I will comment it back[10:07] You: hmm[10:07] You: rolling in the snow with people again[10:07] You: sounds fun[10:07] Jani Pirkola: But the main message is just to reveal our funders, contributors[10:08] You: who do we invite[10:08] You: what's the deadline[10:08] Jani Pirkola: For the conference I think we would invite all the active contributors, all realxtend project members and collaboration company personnel, plus OpenSim core[10:09] Anna Asplund: It is quite soon, I think these kind of happenings should be planned carefully to get all the good out of it[10:09] Jani Pirkola: I guess that could make something like 100 people[10:09] Anna Asplund: You mean for November then for sure?[10:09] Jani Pirkola: I was esitmating that it could be somewhere at the end of February next year[10:09] Anna Asplund: Ok, that sounds good[10:09] You: it might be pretty expensive, though[10:09] Jani Pirkola: There could be a smallish registration fee to cover the costs[10:10] Jani Pirkola: I have budgeted some money for it and I expect to get some sponsors as well[10:10] Anna Asplund: Could we organize an event in some big conference instead[10:10] Anna Asplund: Where these people might come anyway[10:10] You: it could be a meeting for OpenSimn developers as well[10:10] Jani Pirkola: I want to see it happen at Oulu, that is an important thing for us and it kind of contnues the heritage[10:11] Jani Pirkola: and we try to keep it as small as possible[10:11] Anna Asplund: 100 people[10:11] Jani Pirkola: but still get all the relevant people in[10:11] Anna Asplund: is a lot[10:11] You: yeah, I could keep it smaller than 100 if I really trief[10:12] Jani Pirkola: We need a separate entity to take care of all the arrangements[10:12] Anna Asplund: Who could that be? Oulu Innovation?[10:12] Jani Pirkola: The last January meeting was an excellent kick-start for us to get to know everyone in the industry[10:12] Jani Pirkola: Oulu Innovation is one possiblity[10:13] Jani Pirkola: I will ask this around there and I hope you could think about it as well[10:13] Jani Pirkola: To continue my status report; I will meet Aaron again tomorrow, I think Antti is joining. Aki and Harri may come too if you can make them accounts, Antti.[10:14] Anna Asplund: Somehow I think inviting people in small groups could be more effective, if we need contacts, but your idea is good, if we watn to create big event[10:14] Jani Pirkola: We will meet Nick, who is heading TWGs at immersive education[10:14] Anna Asplund: What is the main topic of conversation[10:14] You: what time was it tomorrow?[10:14] Jani Pirkola: Anna, I think we need to have separatte tracks like in conferences if we are over 30 people[10:14] You: aki and harri have accounts already[10:14] Jani Pirkola: 9 pm Finnish time[10:15] Jani Pirkola: 3 pm Boston time[10:15] Jani Pirkola: I hope I calculated the time right[10:15] Anna Asplund: I mean for Immersive Education people[10:15] Anna Asplund: There was some talk about 10 pm also[10:16] Jani Pirkola: I agreed about 3 pm Boston time, so that might be 10 pm Finnish time...[10:16] Anna Asplund: Last time we had a meeting it was at 9 pm and in Boston 2 pm? I think[10:16] Jani Pirkola: Okay then I calculated that in a wrong way[10:16] Jani Pirkola: so it is 10pm then[10:16] Anna Asplund: Hopefully, double check that[10:17] Jani Pirkola: I met World45 at Monday, we had a good introductions about who we are and who they are[10:17] Jani Pirkola: We will continue discussions with them[10:17] Jani Pirkola: Then I and Antti, we had a meeting with G2[10:17] Jani Pirkola: They are subcontractors for Microsoft[10:17] Jani Pirkola: And they got a walk-through for realxtend[10:18] Jani Pirkola: G2 will show realXtend for Microsoft later this week[10:18] Jani Pirkola: And I will continue discussions with them[10:18] Jani Pirkola: Okay, thats pretty much all[10:18] Jani Pirkola: from my statys[10:19] Jani Pirkola: Then we can go to measurements[10:19] Jani Pirkola: 1: in the agenda[10:19] Jani Pirkola: Antti, anything you want to say?[10:19] You: related to the measurements, not really at the moment[10:20] Anna Asplund: We have discussed the measurements and have some questions[10:20] Jani Pirkola: Okay, how about you Anna?[10:20] You: We'll make the baseline measurements at the end of this sprint[10:20] Anna Asplund: Look and feel will be measured by making some 5-10 question list[10:20] Jani Pirkola: sounds good[10:20] Anna Asplund: we are working on that with Tony and Tomi[10:21] Anna Asplund: but is it necessary to compare to state of the art game?[10:21] Anna Asplund: virtual worlds should be ok[10:21] You: some of the measurements are a bit tricky[10:21] Anna Asplund: yes they should be defined more precisely[10:22] Jani Pirkola: Antti, feel free to change/modify any of the measurements that are on your teams responsibility. Same goes for you Anna[10:22] Anna Asplund: I think it requires a RL meeting[10:22] You: for example average server uptime is a bit problematic without adequate statistical data[10:22] Anna Asplund: Yes, we had comment on that also[10:22] Jani Pirkola: Antti, you just need to find a measure that makes sense[10:23] Jani Pirkola: If you cant, then just drop it[10:23] You: one or two servers that are also used for testing purposes aren't enough to calculate such averages at meaningful accuracy[10:23] Anna Asplund: And viewer crashes, % rate, with which users, where[10:23] You: that stuff would be really good to know, it's just difficult to do right now[10:24] Jani Pirkola: We will measure what we can, hopefully at the end of this sprint to get a baseline.[10:24] Jani Pirkola: We can add new measurements as they become possible and meaningful[10:24] Anna Asplund: If the future of this project depends on these measurements, we should have goals that are measurable and things that need to be improved should be on task lists[10:25] Jani Pirkola: You can challenge developers as well to think about them because that is a good way to notice if they are doing a good work[10:25] You: I was thinking of getting a student project to program statistics analyzing software for us[10:25] Anna Asplund: But can we meet face to face and discuss this?[10:26] You: our servers record a good deal of information right now, its readability is a bit lacking, however[10:26] Jani Pirkola: I hope you could, maybe with Mikko and Lasse (Antti and Anna). I will be happy with what you find out.[10:26] You: we need some kind of a parser[10:26] Anna Asplund: That is a good idea Antti? What is the student schedule for this kind of stuff, can they produce efficient work[10:26] You: well they're usually not really good, but the software should be relatively simple to do[10:27] Anna Asplund: yep[10:27] Jani Pirkola: When you could have the RL meeting?[10:27] Jani Pirkola: I would say as soon as possible[10:27] Anna Asplund: Next week, maybe Tuesday[10:27] Jani Pirkola: You can schedule that later over the mail.[10:27] You: some of our programmers need to do that course, so having them work on something useful is always a bonus for us[10:28] Anna Asplund: Or if it needs to quicker, then even tomorrow?[10:28] Jani Pirkola: To continue our agenda; I dont want to run over the schedule we have[10:28] You: we'll have to discuss the schedule later[10:28] Anna Asplund: Thanks Jani[10:29] Jani Pirkola: 2: downloads, documentation, wikis and sites[10:29] Jani Pirkola: I am not very happy with the rexdeveloper.org[10:29] Jani Pirkola: not because of our team[10:29] Jani Pirkola: but we need something more like a wiki[10:29] Jani Pirkola: so we have sites.realxtend.org[10:30] Jani Pirkola: There we can create pages like you can see our agenda on[10:30] Anna Asplund: Is that easy to use and accessible?[10:30] Jani Pirkola: Later we can add community members to edit and add content[10:30] Jani Pirkola: Anna, it is really easy to use[10:30] Jani Pirkola: and it works[10:30] Jani Pirkola: I have been testing it[10:31] Jani Pirkola: Unfortunately it supports only max 10MB files, so we cant move all our assets like videos there[10:31] Anna Asplund: Okay, should we start testing it at first and then make a decision?[10:31] Jani Pirkola: yes, take a look at it and tell me how you feel about it[10:32] Anna Asplund: We'll do that[10:32] Jani Pirkola: Okay, do you have Any Other Business we need to talk about?[10:32] You: well, there's the time of the weekly meetings[10:33] Jani Pirkola: Youre right, I suggested that we move the weekly meeting to Tuesday[10:33] Anna Asplund: This Oulu Innovation magazine need cover picture of you Jani[10:33] Anna Asplund: But I will call you later[10:33] Jani Pirkola: Didnt Ville have photos already?[10:33] You: am I on the centerfold?[10:34] Anna Asplund: Yes, that is a good idea Antti[10:34] Anna Asplund: We have photos, but Innovator wants something more[10:34] Jani Pirkola: Antti, I will be on technology magazines, you can take care of playgirl etc... :)[10:35] Jani Pirkola: Okay, you can give my contact details for them, I suppose they have photographers[10:35] You: we could start selling realXtend calendars with different developer for eaxh month[10:35] Anna Asplund: I gave your contacts already[10:35] Jani Pirkola: Okay, I will agree on time with them[10:35] Anna Asplund: great[10:35] Jani Pirkola: thanks Anna for taking care of that[10:36] Jani Pirkola: So is it okay for everyone to move our weekly meetings to Tuesdays[10:36] Anna Asplund: I don't have anything else[10:36] Anna Asplund: Yes that suits me[10:36] You: sure[10:36] Jani Pirkola: antti?[10:37] Jani Pirkola: ok[10:37] Jani Pirkola: I think we are ready[10:37] Jani Pirkola: Thanks everyone[10:37] Anna Asplund: Thanks[10:37] You: ok[10:37] Jani Pirkola: ttyl!